Whitecurrant Wine - First Bottle (4), 4th July 2014

Claire chose Whitecurrant to go with our 'Fourth of July' meal. We dined on Boston Baked Beans, Potato Salad and Fried Chicken. I associate the last two of these with my Grandmother and Fourths of July spent in Nebraska. We then watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles as a suitably American movie, and it was thoroughly satisfying and effectively sentimental.

The wine is rather good. After my first sip, I counted to five and there was no musty aftertaste. It is dry and sharp, and there is at least a hint of real wine to it. Should I ever find another source of whitecurrants I shall certainly make it again.

If you want to find out how I made this wine, click here.

Crab Apple Wine - First Bottle (A4), 2nd-3rd July 2014

This bottle was a Tale of Two Orchestras. Wednesday night was WYSO and for the first time this term I came away thinking that we were playing well. Which is a Good Thing. Our concert is in just over a week at Pontefract Castle.

Thursday, I came home from the Yorkshire Icon Orchestra in desperate need for alcohol of any description. It was diabolical. Tuning, speed, tone, everything. All awful. And I have said 'yes' to two concerts with them over the next 21 days.

Happily the Crab Apple wine was a reliable as ever - a full bodied, sharp white with a distinct apple taste. It is my House White.

The Pontefract Castle Concert - come along!

If you want to see how this flavour was made, click here

Rose Petal Wine 2014 - The Making Of ...

Following the success of Rose Petal 2013, this flavour has been promoted to 'double batch regular'. Therefore both I and my parents have been collecting rose petals from our respective gardens. Much to Claire's shame, I have also taken petals from strangers' gardens too. Actually it was only one; when going round the North Yorkshire Open Studios, an artist's husband was tending a rose bush which had pink flowers and a glorious smell. I asked and he was only too happy to help - so we have some of Kim Coley's roses in the mix.

On Friday night Rachael and Myles were in York (Paul is off climbing Ben Nevis) so I took the opportunity to collect a large bag of frozen petals. It was a lovely evening - Myles is steadier on his feet and has learnt the art of conversation. No vocabulary, of course, but he babbles in the pattern of speech and I found it difficult not to laugh.

I started the wine on Sunday morning, 29th June, whilst listening to Broadcasting House. It has 8 pints of rose petals - a variety of pinks, whites and darkest reds - two oranges, 5 lbs 4 oz sugar, 11½ pints of boiling water and two litres of juice. Both litres should have been white grape, but only one was. The other was 'white grape and peach juice drink' as Aldis had run out of the former.

When I poured the water over the flowers the house was filled with an exquisite fragrance.

Back from an Airedale concert - Nielsen's 4th, which until the performance I found tedious - I added a sachet of yeast, two teaspoons of nutrient and a teaspoon each of pectolase and tannin.

This is what fermenting rose petals look like

I put this into its two demijohns on Thursday night, 3rd July, after a particularly tedious orchestra rehearsal with 'The White Rose Orchestra'. Suitably named for this flavour, but I hope the wine tastes significantly better than the orchestra sounded. I used a collander to scoop out the petals and thereafter getting the liquid into its demijohn was rapid work. Still, I did not get to bed until after eleven.

If you want to see how this flavour turned out, click here.

Blackcurrant Wine - Final Bottle (5), 29th-30th June 2014

Claire wanted something reddish to drink on Sunday night with her mushy peas and haggis. I was out playing a concert in Ilkley and fished a bottle of blackcurrant before I went. On my return I gulped down a glass with some fervour, still high from the concert, but recognised it would be sensible to leave the rest.

We have finished the bottle tonight, Monday, while eating obligatory salad from the garden and 'Surprising Rice' (inspired by Cabin Pressure). The surprise was its searing heat and the crunch of cinnamon sticks.

Claire suggested we go for a stroll afterwards in the evening sunlight. Twenty minutes later we found ourselves in a bar drinking beer. It was lovely. Claire and I spend surprisingly little time with just each other doing something that is not domestic. And tomorrow we will have been married 16 years.

Elderflower Wine - Tenth Bottle (B2), 29th June 2014(ish)

This is the second bottle of elderflower I have given away. Mary was the grateful recipient, and it was given in thanks for having me around for a meal in between a rehearsal and concert in Ilkely. She has recently acquired an allotment, so providing a bottle was not an entirely selfless act. The elderflower is in her fridge and I drank a bellini instead. The assembled guests wondered whether this was wise  before a concert, and the answer proved to be 'yes'.

We played Wagner's Rienzi Overture, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto and Nielsen's 4th Symphony. I had not been keen on the programme, but in performance finally, finally the symphony made sense. It was exhilerating and that was unexpected. Sleep did not arrive easily on Sunday night.

Carl Nielsen

Redcurrant Wine - Second Bottle (B1), 25th-28th June 2014

Cornelia Gruntfuttock - Claire's Facebook alter-ego - updated her status on Wednesday evening to read:

"I have just opened a bottle of redcurrant wine. It looks beautiful and jewel-like, crystal clear and dark reddish pink. It tastes of rancid old trainers and I am going to pour it down the sink and have whisky instead."

She got 16 'Likes'.

Rose Petal Wine - Second Bottle (B4), 21st June 2014

Not as good as the last bottle. We drank it in Newcastle with Judith on the night before Sam and Hannah's wedding. It had the distinctive rose petal taste, but was drier and somehow more cloying than the previous bottle. Still drinkable, though.

Sam and Hannah's wedding, the following day, was fabulous. I danced late into the night, and that is very rare indeed.